


Deep Roots

by wasthatafanfic



Series: Ontological Inertia [3]
Category: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (TV 2012), Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles - All Media Types
Genre: Body Horror, Double mutated, within the woods
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-06-26
Updated: 2018-06-26
Packaged: 2019-05-29 01:57:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,300
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15062534
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wasthatafanfic/pseuds/wasthatafanfic
Summary: With Leo finally awake things are starting to look up at the farmhouse.But when Raph decides a rematch is in order for their game of Turtle Hunt the red masked terrapin may find that the recent run in with The Creep may have effected him more deeply then any of them could have predicted.





	Deep Roots

**Author's Note:**

> "Deep Roots are not touched by the frost" -Jrr Tolkien

Raphael was just a bit disappointed that he'd missed out on Don and Mikey's fight with the so called monster hunter 'The Finger'. When his brothers regaled them with the story once they'd safely gotten home from their ordeal and it sounded like one entertaining beat down with one heck of an unexpected twist ending, what with monster and hunter running off in each others arms at the end.

Okay that part he was glad to have missed, it was mostly the fighting he wanted in on.

But as they began their katas in the crisp morning air he couldn't bring himself to feel _too_  disappointed. For all his complaining  nature and the unnaturalness of their presence there he was really starting to love being in the wide open outdoors.

As their morning katas came to an end the red masked turtle's attention drifted to his older brother.

Carefully keeping his appraisal as subtle as possible as he checked  on their recovering leader. Leo had barely been out of his three-month-long coma for two weeks, the progress  he'd made with injuries as intense as his in such a short amount of time was impressive. But his stamina was understandably almost nonexistent while his stubbornness was holding strong.

It was obvious that Leo's leg injury was bothering him today, the subtle way he ground his teeth, the slight flinch as he shifted from one form to the next, the way his weight was kept leaning away from the pain.

"HHHHhhhmmmmm."

He hemmed and hawed theatrically till he had all three brothers attention.

" _ **You two**_ -" he pointed an accusatory finger toward his two younger siblings who gawked in confusion "-owe me a turtle hunt."

Orange and purple masked faces fell.

"Aaaww come on Raph!"

"But it's not our fault!"

"Doesn't matter!" He informed them chipperly giving D a hard slap on the shell and nearly sending him sprawling "I want a rematch! Unless, of course, you too wanna leave the score as is? Cause I seem to remember you two running right into me, you can always _share_  coop cleanin duty after all."

They practically fell over each other insisting that was _not_  what they wanted to do.

"Yo, Fearless! Mind finishin up solo so I can hand these two their shells? And _this_  time without any random cryptid encounters to save em!"

Leo looked relieved, he as struggling this morning but pride wouldn't let him admit it yet and Raphael's competitive spirit was giving him a perfectly acceptable out.

Of course he knew what Raph was doing, Raph knew he knew too, but that didn't mean he wasn't going to take the offer and he definitely appreciated it.

"I guess that would be okay. Maybe I can convince April to abandon her spring cleaning and spar a bit."

Raph snorted.

"Good luck with that, more likely you get dragged into helpin her clean."

That was _exactly_  what would happen but it'd give him the rest his aching leg sorely needed but Leo just rolled his eyes dramatically and pivoted on his crutch to limp back inside.

Mikey was already whining before they'd even made it to the tree line, Raph practically dragging him by the shell to get him there.

"I liked it better when you thought nature was stupid!"

"Yeah yeah yeah, shut your beak and get hiddin. Same terms as last time, Five minutes and you gotta stay hidden at least an hour, and at least _try_  this time!"

He stood, a squirmy feeling under his skin he decided must be anticipation from waiting for them to go, and a smug smirk on his face while his younger brothers exchanged nervous looks.

"Go oonnn." he shooed at them and they finally took off as he called after "Hope you were paying attention to bigfoots tips guys! Don't want this to be too easy!"

* * *

"Here?"

"No."

"Here?"

"Nuh uh."

"What about here?"

"Ugghh that won't work either!"

Dontatelo groaned as Michelangelo collapsed onto a boulder.

"We're gonna be cleaning the coop out, aren’t we?"

They were so horrible at this nature stuff!

"Yeah probably."

Donatello admitted ruefully, It was a wonder that Raph had taken to it so well in the months since they'd first gotten here.

"Did you ever figure out if we can burrow? Maybe that’s still an option."

Mikey asked sliding slightly on the boulder so he was hanging off the edge enough to paw at the dirt experimentally.

"No, I forgot all about it when we got caught up in the whole bigfoot thing."

He dragged his little brother back up, they sure weren't going to avoid capture by flopping down out in the open, and they started moving again.

They'd definitely used up their five minute head start by now and were nowhere closer to any kind of plan or hiding place.

"What about there? " Mikey bumped his shell against Donnie's motioning towards the clearing they'd just come across.

Donatello started when he realized that Mikey was indicating the shed,  door poorly repaired from the damage done not even a week prior.

"Are you serious? You want us to hide in a busted up gardening shed where Raph recently got turned into a _plant_  and _all his mutagen sucked out_  where there's absolutely nowhere to hide?!"

"Well, yeah. I mean, we already beat The Creep. He's gone! But Raph might still be just weirded out enough not to wanna go lookin for us in there. "

Donnie looked considerably less then convinced.

"And if he isn't? We've got no chance to run, we'd be cornering ourselves."

"Only if he looks!  dude still isn't getting firewood on his own. He's not gonna go peaking in there if only cause he'll think  _we're_  too scared to!"

"You know, that actually probably woulda worked."

Both turtles yelped as they spun around to face none other then the red masked turtle in question,  leaning casually against a tree trunk and watching them with an amused smirk

"If you'd actually bothered to hide that is, instead'a sittin here gabbin out in the open. It's barely been twenty minutes, by the way. And that's INCLUDING the head start."

He may have been all smugness and bravado on the surface right now but Mikey was right this place freaks him right out he barely remembered most of what happened that night but what flashes did come back to him made his skin crawl being so close to the place where it happened even in daylight left that discomfort absolutely writhing  under his skin.

And he was distracted just enough by bad memories and putting up a front for his brothers that he didn't notice how literal that writhing was, veins shifting under green skin but stilling as he scratched his arm absently.

"You know what I'm feeling generous today-" both brothers look hopeful, till his grin widened wickedly "I'll give you guys a chance to even the score."

They look considerably less hopeful as they realized what that most likely meant

* * *

The first ten minutes he just put as much distance between him and his brothers as he could.

He didn't even bother to cover his trail, mostly because he was pretty sure they need any help they could get. After all it wouldn't be any fun if he won because they wandered off in the wrong direction.

Once he'd given himself a comfortable lead he started searching for a good hiding spot.

Of course it would be easy enough to keep moving and stay ahead of them for the entire hour, just wait out the clock, but again that wouldn't be _nearly_  as fun.

Another five minutes and he found the perfect spot.

A little hollow in the undergrowth surrounded by thick foliage that he made even more obscuring by adding strategically-placed branches a clear view out zero view in multiple exits if they did get close, and the bonus of a comfy beam of sunlight against an equally comfy tree trunk.

It was perfect, he settled back against the trunk and a contented sigh escaped him.

He meant to keep watch, sitting against the tree gave him a perfect view of any oncoming siblings. Spying instead various wildlife snuffling by, including a chipmunk, two rabbits, and what he was pretty sure was a badger.

But with the comforting smell of moss filling his lungs with every breath, the warm sun on his face, and his fingers and toes dug into the cool soil, the instinct to bask as nature intended was hard to fight against.

It was calm here, and made him feel settled and secure in a way he rarely experienced

He put up a good fight, keeping himself alert for a good while watching as more wildlife. But as a doe passed through the clearing, seeming to look right at him and quizzically tilt her head before continuing on her way, his eyes finally slid shut as he drifted off. That shifting under his skin felt more like a comfort than a concern

* * *

Slowly Raphael drifted up into consciousness from what may have been the most comfortable rest he'd had in ages. He was drawn from his rest by familiar voices talking in hushed, urgent tones over him, quickly recognizing them as belonging to his younger brothers and groaned internally.

Confusion gave way to annoyance. At his cozy nap being interrupted, at the fact he'd dozed off to begin with, and at the possibility that he probably lost this round of turtle hunt.

A hand gently shook him by the shoulder and he grumbled as he finally bothered to open his eyes and drowsily met Donatello's concerned gaze.

The sky behind his brothers form had darkened considerably, now awash in color. So he _had_  won after all.

"What took you so long? Were you even looki-?!"

His posturing was cut short as he tried to sit up and found himself restrained.

"What the shell?"

Vines and roots surrounded him, wrapped around his chest, tangled around his legs and arms, pinning him to the forest floor.

Donnie gave a helpless shrug,

"We just found you like this, are you okay?"

The purple masked turtle was checking him over as much as possible around the leaves.

"We just thought you were messing with us when you didn't turn up to rub it in our faces once the two hours were up."

He couldn't exactly fault them for the assumption, it was a very him thing to do.

"Yeah I'm fine just - just get me out of here!"

He started struggling to pull free, it stung oddly and he wondered if there were hidden thorns somewhere in the mess.

Off to his right Mikey announced proudly "Don't you worry bro we'll have you cut out of here in a jiffy!" right before a deep and sharp _pain_  exploded through him.

"WHAT THE SHELL MIKEY THAT HURT!"

He craned his neck as much as his restrained state would allow to find his youngest brother staring at him in confusion, small blade in one hand and a severed vine in the other.

"What'd I do?"

"You stabbed me you dingus!"

The orange masked turtle glanced down at the vine that he'd carefully pulled away from his brothers body to get an easy cut and back again and answered flatly

"No I didn't."

"Yeah you did, I felt it!"

"No, really. I wasn't even close to you. I did it just like this, look."

Mikey snagged another few vines and worked them away from Raph's body, just enough to use his own hand as a guard to keep his brother safe from harm as he slid the blade under and pulled up, severing them all in a single smooth motion.

Raph only just bit off the curse that tried to escape as the piercing pain came again, like he'd just been stabbed hard.

Mikey dropped the offending plants like he'd be next and starred in abject confusion, that definitely should not have hurt!

Donatello had been alternating between keeping a wary eye on their surroundings and taking in Raph and Mikey's conversation. Concern flared in him at the latest turn of events and he began trying to untangle the roots instead of cutting them.

"Hey, I'm gonna pull one up tell me if you fell that too."

Raph nodded and braced himself.

The root pulled free of the dirt with surprisingly little resistance, much to Donatello's surprise the one he'd tugged and expected to tear from a thicker root in the ground revealed itself to be the end, not part of some larger structure.

"What the… Did that hurt?"

Raph shook his head but looked confused, he'd definitely felt _something_  when Donnie'd yanked the thing up but he couldn't properly put it into words.

There was something off about this whole thing and the fact he couldn't quiet put his finger on what it was made him feel more then a little panicked, memories of power outages and garden sheds rising unbidden in his mind.

"Just cut em."

He announced with a finality that didn't at all reflect how he was feeling right now.

"Are you sure?" Donatello eyed the sheer number of the things warily. "We should probably know why they're causing you pain when cut before we go any-"

Something shifted not far away and something else called into the quickly setting night a further still, setting them all on edge.

Panicking now, he began to struggle again. Ignoring the discomfort yanking at the vines caused as he gritted out.

"I said Cut. Me. Loose!"

Exchanging uncertain looks Michelangelo and Donatello nodded, each taking a side and carefully lining up their blades to get the job done in as few strokes as possible.

Raphael's cry echoed all the way back to the farmhouse.

**Author's Note:**

> I live for comments, questions, and any feedback you might want to leave so don't hesitate I wanna know what you think!


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